May 1, 2024

Streamline Your Workflow: Five Time-Saving Tips

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Advice from Richard Byrne on streamlining tasks, from managing email via spreadsheets to harnessing IFTTT (If This Then That).

What You Should Know About Banned Websites Awareness Day, September 24

The fourth annual Banned Websites Awareness Day makes excessive filtering an intellectual freedom issue in K–12 learning.

SLJ Reviews the AWE Tablet: A fast device, delivering blended content to individual students

Chad Sansing assesses AWE’s tablet device, with advice on its potential use in the classroom.

Texas Superintendent Adopts Digitized Early Learning Program

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Using a community-wide digital reading program, Superintendent Ruben Alejandro of Texas’s Weslaco Independent School District has made literacy a priority for not only his school district, but for all kids in the community ages zero to three.

Missouri Extends Protection of Library Records Data to Digital Materials

Missouri library patrons can now rest assured that their library records for checkout of digital materials will remain private, thanks to a new state law.

Eight Apps to Support Early Reading and Writing | Cool Tools

It’s never too early to encourage reading. Richard Byrne shares his picks for tools that young readers and writers can use with or without an adult. Includes screencasts demoing three applications: Building Language for Literacy, Reading Bear, and Maily, an iOS app for letter writing.

Generation Tablet: Kids Must Learn to Hack in the Real World

Tablets are wonderful devices, providing unbelievable computing power in a simple-to-use package. But they aren’t good for developing technology problem-solvers.

Are Today’s Kids All Thumbs? Touch Matters. Researchers Bring Tactile Learning into Digital Realm.

Using our hands is critical to learning, and the rise of digital use by young children potentially limits their opportunities to learn about the world around them through touch. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers has found that young children have trouble using toys and blocks because of their overuse of touch-screen devices.

Fight the ‘Zombie Librarians’ | ISTE 2014

Jennifer LaGarde’s sold-out ISTE presentation, “How to Survive the Zombie Librarian Apocalypse!,” struck a chord among teacher librarians. Her talk hinged on a statement she’d once heard: “There are only two types of librarians: zombies and zombie fighters.”

ALA Report Confirms Negative Impact of Filtering on Student Learning

“Fencing out Knowledge: Impacts of the Children’s Internet Protection Act 10 Years Later” concludes that institutions using filtering software in order to receive certain federal funds routinely block more content than required, depriving students of access to information and collaborative tools.